Met Mile still a possibility for Unified

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Unified came out of his neck defeat to Green Gratto in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Carter in good order and is under consideration for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park, trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Wednesday.

Jerkens said he was worried about Green Gratto’s presence in the Carter because of the early speed he possesses.

“I hated to see him in there – not that I thought he’d beat us, but he’d change our strategy,” Jerkens said. “Maybe if we broke inside of him, we would have just sold out, especially as good as the rail was all day. But it looked like he would have had to run too hard to cross over in front of him, so he decided to sit off him and couldn’t catch him.”

The loss was Unified’s first in a one-turn race.

Meanwhile, Jerkens said there’s no decision yet on where Shaman Ghost will make his next start. Shaman Ghost won the Santa Anita Handicap on March 11 but was not nominated to this Saturday’s Oaklawn Handicap. Frank Stronach, who owns Shaman Ghost, owns Pimlico Race Course, where the Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special will be run May 20.

Jerkens said that race is possible for Shaman Ghost, but that a more likely option is the Grade 1, $500,000 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs on June 17. Shaman Ghost won the Grade 1 Clark Handicap at Churchill last November.

On Monday, Shaman Ghost worked a half-mile in 48.77 seconds over the Belmont training track, his second work since the Santa Anita Handicap.